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Gerald Hamilton Beard was born in Hammersmith, England in 1862. He received the B.A., B.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Yale. He was a Congregational clergyman with pastorates in Norwalk and Bridgeport, Connecticut and Burlington, Vermont during the years 1892-1921. He was an Alumni Lecturer at Yale Divinity School in 1910. He died in 1921. Of particular interest in the collection is the fairly complete file of sermons and addresses delivered during the period 1888-1921. These sermons, in conjunction with Beard's extensive subject file, provide a valuable record of the style and content of preaching of a successful Congregational minister during a time of liberal resurgence in American Protestantism. The sermons address the urban problems of the Gilded Age. With the onset of the First World War, Beard participated in the prevailing surge of patriotism bolstered by theology.

This collection provides extensive detailed documentation of the life and work of Theodora Culver Gleysteen and William H. Gleysteen, American Presbyterian educational missionaries based in Beijing (Peking) (now Beijing), North China from 1905 to 1943.

The Gulick Family Papers, 1840-1964, primarily document the scientific and missionary life of John Thomas Gulick (1833-1923) in Japan and China and the scientific career of his son Addison Gulick who was Professor of Chemistry at the University of Missouri from 1912 to 1952.

These papers relate to Gwen Coventry, an Australian nurse, who worked as a Chistian missionary for Regions Beyond Missionary Union and the United Mission to Nepal in northern India and Nepal between 1959 and 1980. She served first as a hospital nurse in northern India and Tansen, Nepal, then as a community health worker in Bojha, Nepal, and finally as the director of the Community Health Programme for the UMN in Palpa District. She helped develop a structure of distributed rural dispensaries and traveling nurses, as well as founding agricultural programs as part of an increasingly holistic community development vision.

The papers document in a thorough way the last two decades of Frei's professional career - his writings, lectures, courses taught at Yale, and University-related activities. Hans Wilhelm Frei was born in Germany in 1922, attended secondary school in England, and emigrated to the United States in 1938. He received a B.S. from North Carolina State College, a B.D. from Yale Divinity School, and a Ph.D. from Yale. He was professor of religion at Wabash College and the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest before joining the Yale faculty in 1957. Frei served as Master of Ezra Stiles College from 1972 to 1980. He was chairman of the Department of Religious Studies at Yale from 1983 to 1986. He died in 1988.

Detailed and substantive quarterly letters and writings document the missionary work of Harman V. S. Peeke and his wife Vesta G. Peeke. The Peekes were missionaries in Japan from 1893 to 1929, serving under the Reformed Church in America.

Diaries, family records and history of the Parish of Trinity Church, New Haven (1740-1820) by Harry Croswell, journalist and later minister of Trinity Church from 1815 until his death. The diaries in 14 volumes (1821-1858), offer a daily record of his life in New Haven as well as accounts of his participation in the work of the church in the surrounding region and in the affairs of Trinity College, Hartford.Croswell also records the formation of the black congregation, St. Luke's, in 1844. Occasional trips to upstate New York (1825, 1841), to Boston and Philadelphia (1821) offer descriptions of these places. In 1915 F. B. Dexter made a transcript of large portions of the diary and also compiled an index.

The collection documents the professional work of Harry Pinneo Dewey (1861-1937), a Congregational minister in New Hampshire, Brooklyn, and Minneapolis.

Dating from 1849-1972, these papers span three generations of Baptist mission involvement and pioneer activity. Jesse Boardman Hartwell, 1795-1859, was the patriarch of the Hartwell family of Baptist missionaries, although not a missionary himself. He served as pastor of various Baptist churches across the United States, professor at Howard College, Marion, Alabama in 1844, and president and professor of theology at Mt. Lebanon University in 1857. His son, Jesse Boardman Hartwell, Jr., 1835-1912, graduated from Furman University, Greenville, S.C. in 1855. He served as professor of mathematics at Mt. Lebanon University and became a China missionary in 1858. He organized the first Protestant church in China north of Shanghai and was active in helping refugees during the Tai Ping rebellion, 1851-1864. Four of J.B. Hartwell, Jr.'s children were active in China missions, including daughters Nellie, Anna (Guangzhou (Canton), Penglai (Tengchow) and Longkou (Hwanghsien)) and Lottie (Shaoxing (Shaohing) and Hangzhou (Hangchow), Zhejiang (Cheking) Province). Son Charles Norris Hartwell was educated at the China Inland Mission Schools in Chefoo and the State University of Missouri. He was appointed to the Southern Baptist Convention's North China Mission in 1909. He served as principal of the Boys' High School in Longkou (Hwanghsien) and, at the time of his death in 1927, was Dean of North China Baptist College.

These papers provide detailed accounts of the life and work of the Hayes family in China during a turbulent time, as well as documenting their post-China experiences. Paul and Helen Wolf Hayes were missionaries serving under the Methodist Episcopal Church in Wuhu and Zhenjiang (Chinkiang), Anhui (Anhwei) Province from 1921 to 1935. Following their return to the United States, Paul Hayes had pastorates in Minnesota and North Dakota. Their daughter, Elsie Hayes Landstrom, was born in China; she wrote and edited various works related to the work of her parents and other Methodist missionaries.